Method and apparatus for felt conditioning



Feb. 6, 1945. T, 5, JORDAN 2,368,662

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FELT CONDITIONING Filed Aug. 20, 1941 3' Sheets-Sheet 1- hOmasfiQJb Z 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 /w//////////////////// v W QWQEQO $530.; Qwbsttb g Qmkw Na f! 44/44 444/444 7 Hum M m w 1 4 6N T w m QM WW \.R 7 O 37 O O @NJ k m vkh k v NM. m x 6mm Wm Wm Lv.

Feb. 6, 1945; T. s. JORDAN METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FELT CONDITIONING Filed Aug. 20, 1941 Feb. 6 1945. 1'. s. JORDAN 2,363,562

' METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FELT CONDITIONING Filed Aug. 20, 1941 s sheet -Supt 3 I l I I I I I I I I I- I I.- I I I I 1 o Patented Feb. 6, 1945' UNITED STATES PATENT, OFFICE",

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FEL CCINDITIONIN G Thomas s. Jordan, Springhill, La. Application August 20, 1941, Serial No. 407,51 9 /i 7 Claims.

a felt cleaner which is cheap and easy to manufacture; has a minimum number of parts; is subject to a minimum of wear; and can be kept in operation indefinitely by replacement of a single cheap and simple part.

The accomplishment .of these and other objects will be mad clear from the following detailed description taken in connection with the annexed drawings, in which Figure 1 is a view in elevation showing my improved felt cleaner in operative position in a typical felt installation; Fig. 2 is an enlarged view in elevation of my felt cleaner;

Fig. 3 is a plan view;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 with the cover plate of the vacuum chamber removed;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig, 2, with the cover plate of the water chamber removed;

Fig. 6 is an end elevation of my cleaner'w'ith the cover removed; and

Fig. 7 is a section taken on the line 'l-'l of Fi 3.

In various types of paper-making machines the newly formed wet web is carried from the web-forming device, which may be of any type woolen felts are used to carry the wet web through the press rolls. Most of the water extracted by the press-rolls is driven through these felts, and carries with it fiber, filler, and other solids and colloids from the paper stock, which materials lodge in the face of the felt. If-no feltcleaner were provided, the nap of the 'felt would shortly become matted and almost glazed, the'felt would not properly transmit the water extracted by the press-rolls and would mark-the surface of the wet web. I

The most important characteristic of thefelt is'its ability to transmit water. This water'is actually driven through the entire thicknessof the felt, and since the water carries both in'suspension and solution a substantial quantity of paper making material, such material penetrates the entire thickness of thefelt. Naturally, the felt acts as a filter, and therefore the greatest concentration of paper making material occurs at the surface, but, in time, there is a substantial distribution of such material throughout the thickness of the felt. This material, under the tremendous force of the press rolls tends, to fill the interstices of the felt and thus to reduce its penetrability. The material in solution tends to raise the viscosity of the liquid above that of pure water, and in other ways, too, sets upresistance to its fiow. This tends to prevent the cleaning fluid supplied by the conditioner from penetrating the interstices of the felt and thus works against the effective cleaning away of all undesirable material. 'When the penetrability is too far reduced, the felt renders the press rolls ineffective to remove the proper amount of water from the paper web. At'this point, the machine must be stopped and the felt must be re-' moved andwashed. This is an adverse effect wholly in addition to the effect ofextraneous that conventional felt cleaners are no longer sufiiciently effective. v

' It is clear that the period during which the felt is acted upon by the cleaner will'decrease as the felt speed is raised. To maintain a proper cleansing and conditioning action, therefore, re-; quires that the activity of the cleaner per unit of its surface must be increased so that equal ,or better results may be had in a lesser period of time. Practical considerations of space and cost limit the use of multiple cleaners. It is also a' fact that cleaning heads which operate on the very seriously affect the economy of operations,

and greatly lower the annual or monthly outp t of y iven machine.

In my cleaner I take advantage of the prin ciple that rapid alternation of the direction of flow of a cleaning fluid will loosen and remove more material per unitof time than will the same quantity of cleaning fluid moving in a singl direction. The application of this principle to the physical design of my cleaner will be made clear hereinafter;

In Fig. 1 I show a pair of press-rolls l and a felt l2 passing between the rolls. 0n the return pass of the felt l2 it comes in contact with my felt cleaner indicated generallyat l4. The felt cleaner I4 is conventionally secured to a bracket l6 which is slidably mounted on an angle iron l8. The bracket l6 and the cleaner l4 are moved transversely of the felt by a screw 20. This mounting and traversing of the cleaner is con ventional and the patent toVickery No. 1,553,274 shows the details of a typical installation of this sort. The conditioner as shown in Fig. 3 may optionally have either end as, the leading end. It is, however, preferred that the larger opening 52, at the right hand end of Fig. 3,-be made the trailing end. The speed. of movement of the cleaner transversely of the felt is so regulated that the entire length of the felt passes over the surface of the cleaner during. the time in which the cleaner moves transversely a distance equal to its own efiective width. Conventional reversing mechanism operating onthe screw 20 serves to carry the cleaner alternately back and forth across the felt. 1

As is perhaps best shown in Fig, 7, my cleaner consists of a casting 22 divided into a vacuum chamber 24 and a water chamber 26. A cover 28,. secured by screws 34- closes the water chamber, andv a cover 32 secured by cap screws 34 covers the vacuum chamber 24.

. The cover 32 for the vacuum chamber 34 is preferably, though not necessarily, made of micarta and. its outer surface is suitably smoothed for contact with the felt. Micarta In the casting 22 I provide a series of members 42; each of'which extends transversely of the vacuum chamber 24, and each of which has an opening 44 extending'axially thereof and communicating with the water chamber 26. On each member 42 is a boss 46 extending upwardly therefrom andhaving a slot 48 therein, which slot communicates with the, openingv 44.

The Micarta coverv 32 has .in it'a series of slots 50-,-'each of which registers with a slot. 48 in-one of the bosses 46, Water may therefore be delivered from the water chamber 26 through the openings 44 in the members 42 and through. the slots 48 and: 50 to the surface of the cover 32. The cover 32 has formed init a series of openings which communicate with the vacuum chamebein24, Certain of these openings, indicated-at 52', are elongated and have their axes transverse the length. of the cover 32. Certain otheropenings indicated at 54 are elongated and have their axes inclined relative to the-length'of-thecover solids.

32, and in addition I may optionally provide circular openings 56 at. various points in the cover 32.

As the felt moves over the upper surface of the cover 32, it will receive a series of applications of water (or other cleaning fluid) through the slots 50, and this water will be extracted intermediate the slots 50 by the vacuum openings 52 and/or 54. In particular the inclined slots 54 produce a, kneading action .on the surface of the felt, thus loosening any solids adhering to the surface and facilitating the removal of such This same kneading action tends to restore the nap of the felt to its proper condition. The relatively narrow dimensions of the slots in, the direction of travel of the felt limit the deflection of the felt normal to the plane of the matter to the surface of the felt. The slot edgesthen scrape part of the material off the felt. By the time the last stage is reached, the water of thejets flows'freely through the felt, and may be withdrawn with far less application of vacuum (in area) than is applied in conventional felt;

conditioners to extract the water added by only,

a single jet. .The inclination of the slots 54 directly and substantially contributes to the scrapingfeffect, It is clear that, with a rapidly mov-. ing felt (1,000 or more feet per minute), my cleaner, by providing a quick succession of applications and removals of cleaning fluid and by providing quick successive deflections of the; felt in different directions, operates far more effectively to recondition a, felt than-any other. cleaner shown in the prior art. The provision of the vacuum connections at both ends of the vacuum chamber is important since this permits, uninterrupted application of the vacuum irrespective of the angular position of the cleaner and irrespective of the quantity of water being drawn into the vacuum chamber- It will be-un-:

derstood that there is a great dealmore water available for withdrawal than is supplied through the water chamber, and a single vacuum connection, particularly when the cleaner is operated out of the horizontal,- might be clogged by the water'drawn into the vacuum chamber.

the scope of this invention will be as set forth' in the subjoined claims which are to be broadly construed.

What. is. claimed is .;1. 1A felt conditioner-shoe a jplate.

adapted to contact a .moving felt and of less width than the felt, there being in the surface:

ofsai'd plate in contact, with said fel'tv a pluralityf of'means for supplying cleaning .fluid; to sa id" felt and a plurality of means: for applyi'ngsvacu-= umto said felt;.'a single source, of: vacuum commonto all: of said vacuum applying means; said fluid supplying; means and. said vacuumaapply-x ingrmeansbeing alternated inpa. direction para .allelto the travel of'said felt-,jtherebeing a sufilrr,

cient number of each of said means to provide a plurality of cycle of fluid supplying and vacuum extraction of the fluid supplied and to keep said source of vacuum flushed clean at all times.

2. A felt conditioner shoe including a plate adapted to contact a moving felt and of less width than the felt, there being in the surface of said plate in contact with said felt a plurality of means for supplying cleaning fluid to said felt and a plurality of means for applying vacuum to said felt; a single source of vacuum common to said means for applying vacuum to said felt; said fluid upplying means and said vacuum applying means being alternated in a direction parallel to the travel of the felt; there being a sufficient number of each of such means to provide a plurality of alternations of fluid supplying and vacuum extraction of the fluid supplied and to keep said source of vacuum flushed clean at all times; certain of said vacuum applying mean being effective over elongated areas inclined to the path of travel of said felts. 3. A felt conditioner shoe comprising: an elongated vacuum chamber; an elongated water chamber parallel thereto; a series of spaced conduits running transversely of said vacuum chamber and communicating with said water chamber all of said conduit being clear of the bottom of said vacuum chamber and having openings in their upper sides; a cover for said vacuum chamber, said cover having openings communicating with said vacuum chamber and other openings in registry with the openings in said conduits and said cover being mounted to form a seal between the openings in said conduits and said vacuum chamber; and pipe connections for each of said chambers.

4. A felt conditioner comprising a. member elongated in the direction of travel of the felt, and of less width than the felt it is designed to 4:1) treat, saidmember having means for injecting cleaning fluid into the felt, and means for extracting fluid therefrom, a vacuum chamber in communication with the last named means, and two vacuum applying connections for said chamber, said connections being spaced in the direction, of travel of said felt, said chamber being shaped so as normally to direct all drainage toward one of said connections.

5. A method for conditioning paper machine felts while moving at high speed, the performance of said method being confined to a limited area of the felt at any one time and being progressively extended across the width of the felt at such a rate as to assure treatment of the entire length. of each wi-dthwise element of the felt,

said method comprising ubjecting the felt passing over said limited area to a series of rapidly repeated conditioningcycles, each cycle include ing the injection of cleaning fluid into the felt immediately followed by vacuum extraction of a portion, at least, of the fluid injected, said vacuum extraction in each cycle being simultaneously accompanied by a scraping of the felt surface whereby progressively to increase the porosity of the felt from cycle to cycle.

6. A felt conditioner.shoe including a plate adapted to contact one side only of a moving felt and of less width than said felt; there being in said plate, located to make contact with said felt, a plurality of means for supplying cleaning fluid to said felt and a plurality of means for applying vacuum to said felt, a portion of each of said vacuum applying means being effective to scrape the surface of the felt; said fluid supplying means and said vacuum applying means being alternated in a direction parallel to the travel of said felt, there being a sufficient number of each of said means to provide a plurality of cycles of fluid supplying and vacuum extraction of the fluid applied.

'7. A felt conditioner shoe including a plate adapted to contact one side only of a moving felt and of less width than said felt; there being in said plate, located to make contact with said felt, a plurality of means for supplying cleaning fluid to said felt and a plurality of means forapplying vacuum to said felt, a portion of each of said vacuum applying means being effective to scrape the surface of the felt; said fluid supplying means and said vacuum applying means be-- ing alternated in a direction parallel to the travel of said felt, there being a suflicient number of each of said means to provide a plurality of cycles of fluid supplying and vacuum extraction of the fluid supplied, certain of said vacuum applying means being effective over elongated areas inclined to the path of travel of said felt whereby to increase the scraping efiect aforesaid.

THOMAS- S. JORDAN. 

